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Q.&A.: No Hiding on Facebook

I got a Facebook friend request from a stranger — a woman in a black bikini holding a baby. How do people I don’t know find me on Facebook and send me friend requests?

A.

Although Facebook’s privacy settings let you maintain a fairly tight rein on your profile information — and keep you out of most searches — they do allow people browsing parts of the site to see you and send off a friend request. (To adjust your search settings, click on the Account link on your profile page, select Privacy Settings and then Search.)

A link to your profile appears in the Friends area of all the people you have “friended” on Facebook. Some of your friends may have hundreds of friends of their own who can take a peek at your basic profile page and fire off a friend request. But you can turn it off by clicking the pencil icon on the Friends box on your profile and unchecking “Show friend list to everyone.” A link to your profile also appears on Facebook “fan” and “group” pages (which can include subjects as diverse as the historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, the British Library and bacon), where other people who have become fans or joined the group can click on a link to your profile.

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Gadgetwise is a blog about everything related to buying and using tech products. From figuring out which gadget to buy and how to get the best deal on it to configuring it once it’s out of the box, Gadgetwise offers a mix of information, analysis and opinion to help you get the most out of your personal tech.